A MAN assaulted his former partner despite being subject to a restraining order not to approach her.

Mark Damien Thorlby-Coy, aged 31, of Esplanade, Penmaenmawr, admitted two charges of common assault at Rhyl, breaching a restraining order and other offences and was jailed for 12 months at Mold Crown Court.

Judge Niclas Parry said that it was a breach of a court order designed to protect the victim when he had visited her home repeatedly.

At her home he had taken a child out of a cot as she begged him to leave.

He assaulted her on two occasions.

When she was lying on the bed, he throttled her.

Then he kneed her to the stomach.

He also drove off in her vehicle knowing that she needed it.

The judge said he had previously been to prison for offences of violence and offences against the same victim.

Her situation was such that the police had given her an emergency alarm to call them because of the threat he posed.

He said it was "serious domestic violence involving control and abuse."

But he had pleaded guilty which he accepted as a sign of remorse.

And he had not waiting to see if the victim would turn up to give evidence before he entered his guilty pleas.

A restraining order was already in place not to approach victim Dionne Jade Murray or attend at her home in Maes y Gog, Rhyl.

Prosecuting barrister Jo Maxwell said that they had been in an 18 month relationship.

But despite the restraining order he attended at her address.

On one occasion when she was lying on the bed he grabbed her by the throat and dragged her onto the floor.

He asked her: "Do you want to know what I am capable of?"

During a struggle over a mobile phone he punched her with force to the stomach.

He took her vehicle and was arrested by police after being stopped driving it.

Defending barrister Simon Killeen said that it was accepted that it was a deliberate and persistent breach of a court order but said it was by consent in the context of a relationship.

He had health problems, was awaiting kidney surgery and it was so serious that it had been agreed by the prison authorities that he could go to hospital for the operation.

The defendant admitted breaching a restraining order, two common assaults, taking a vehicle without consent, and driving without a licence and insurance.